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The IT Dept Pty Ltd

Customer Terms

The IT Dept Pty Ltd. Last updated 23 October 2026.

The short version: you pay for each calendar month after it ends, in arrears, by bank transfer or PayID. Your first invoice covers the part of the month from the day your service goes live, and your last covers the part of the month up to the day you cancel. There's no minimum term, no setup fee and no exit fee, and you can leave whenever you like. Every service comes with unlimited data and its own static public IPv4 address. There's no phone service, so you can't call 000 over it. The rest of this page is the detail, and it's the agreement between us.

1. About these terms

The IT Dept Pty Ltd (ABN 12 665 405 505). When these terms say "we", "us" or "our", they mean The IT Dept Pty Ltd. We supply your service, we're the carriage service provider, and we bill you. "You" means the person named on the order.

Our broadband network, the online portal and the systems behind them are run for us by our platform provider, Underlay. We remain your supplier and we're responsible to you for the whole service.

We don't own the network your service runs on. It's supplied over the nbn network, owned and operated by NBN Co Limited, which we reach through our wholesale access provider. We're responsible to you for your service, and we're not affiliated or related to NBN Co.

These Customer Terms are our Standard Form of Agreement under Part 23 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. Your agreement with us is made up of:

  1. these Customer Terms;
  2. the Critical Information Summary (CIS) for your plan, which you accept when you order;
  3. our Privacy Policy; and
  4. your order: the plan, the address and the details you gave us.

Our Complaints Handling Policy, Financial Hardship Policy and domestic, family and sexual violence support explain how we handle complaints, help you if you're finding it hard to pay, and help you if you're affected by violence.

We follow the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code, the industry code that sets out how telcos must treat their customers. You can read it on the Australian Telecommunications Alliance's website, austelco.org.au, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority explains your rights at acma.gov.au.

If two of these documents say different things, the CIS wins on anything specific to your plan (its price and its speed). Otherwise these Customer Terms win. Nothing in any of them takes away a right you have under the law, including the Australian Consumer Law.

If you're a small business, you get every protection these terms give a consumer. Some words have a specific meaning here; they're explained in section 26.

2. Who can get a service

To take a service from us, you must:

  • be at least 18 years old;
  • give us your real name, date of birth, email address, mobile number and service address, and let us confirm who you are; and
  • be at a premises connected, or able to be connected, to the nbn by a fixed-line technology (FTTP, HFC, FTTC, FTTB or FTTN) that the plan you choose is available on.

We don't supply services over nbn Fixed Wireless or nbn Satellite. We don't run credit checks with credit reporting bodies and we don't ask for a deposit.

Before we act on a high-risk request (changing your contact details, cancelling, moving, transferring the account, or giving out information about your account), we confirm it's you. We do that with a one-time code or link sent to the email address or mobile number already on your account, or by you making the change yourself from inside the signed-in portal. If you can no longer safely use that email or mobile, tell us and we'll confirm it's you another way. We never keep copies of your identity documents. If we can't confirm it's you, we won't make the change.

3. Ordering and getting connected

Checking your address

The address check in the portal is a guide. When you order, we run a formal service qualification with nbn through our wholesale access provider. It confirms your technology type, whether your plan is available there, and whether any work is needed to connect you. If it shows we can't connect you, we tell you and cancel the order, and you owe us nothing.

When our agreement starts

Our agreement starts when you place your order and we accept it. We then place your connection order with nbn. You aren't charged for the service until it goes live.

Connection and nbn appointments

Many connections need no visit at all: if your premises is already connected, the service is switched on remotely, often within a few days. Some need an nbn technician, for example a new FTTP or HFC connection, or a new connection box. If yours does, we'll arrange the appointment with you. Someone aged 18 or over needs to be home for it. If you rent, you may need your landlord's permission for installation work.

We'll keep you updated by email as your order moves along, and you can follow it in the portal. Connection times depend on nbn and on the work your premises needs, so we can't promise a date until nbn gives us one.

One-off nbn charges

We don't charge a setup fee. Some premises need nbn work that nbn charges for. We pass those charges on at cost, with no margin, and only ones you have seen and agreed to before you order. They are:

  • nbn's new development charge, for premises in some newer estates and buildings; and
  • connection box (NTD) upgrade and fibre upgrade charges, which some FTTP and HFC premises need for faster plans.

The portal shows the amount, including GST, before you place your order, and you must agree to it to go ahead. If you don't agree, we won't order the work and you won't be charged. An agreed charge appears on your next invoice. If nbn later needs to do other chargeable work at your premises, we tell you the amount and ask you first; if you say no, we won't incur it.

4. What you get

  • nbn fixed-line broadband at the speed tier of the plan you choose.
  • Unlimited data. No data cap, no shaping, no throttling.
  • A static public IPv4 address, included. Every service comes with its own public IPv4 address that stays the same while you have the service. It isn't shared with anyone (no carrier-grade NAT), and its price is part of your plan's monthly price. You also get a native IPv6 range. The addresses are licensed to you for use with your service. You don't own them, and they come back to us when the service ends.
  • Bring your own router. We don't supply or sell one. Your router gets its address by DHCP (IPoE), untagged: there's no PPPoE, no VLAN, and no username or password.
    • FTTP, HFC and FTTC: any router with an Ethernet WAN port that supports DHCP, plugged into your nbn connection box.
    • FTTN and FTTB: a VDSL2 modem-router that supports vectoring, plugged into your phone wall socket.
    • Plans of 1000 Mbps: your router needs a gigabit (or faster) WAN port.
    We'll help you set it up.
  • Support from us by phone and email, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays.

The service is residential grade and supplied on a best-efforts basis. We don't offer a service level guarantee or a guaranteed fault repair time. Each plan's price and speeds are in its CIS.

5. What the service doesn't include

There's no voice service. You can't make calls, including calls to 000, over this service. We don't supply a phone line or VoIP. Keep a mobile phone for emergencies.

  • No Priority Assistance. We don't offer it. If you or someone in your home has a life-threatening medical condition, you need a phone service from a provider that offers Priority Assistance, and a mobile.
  • The Customer Service Guarantee doesn't apply. It only covers voice services. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law still apply in full (section 19).
  • Power outages. nbn services don't work when the power is out. Some FTTP premises have a battery backup unit, but it only supports voice services, which we don't supply.
  • Medical alarms and other devices. Medical and personal alarms, lift phones, and fire and security alarms may not work over nbn. Before you order, check with the device's supplier whether it works with nbn, and what the alternatives are if it doesn't. If you have a medical alarm, register it on nbn's Medical Alarm Register at nbn.com.au, or by calling nbn on 1800 687 626.

6. Speeds

Each plan's CIS shows its maximum speeds and, where we have one, its typical evening speed: the download speed we expect most customers on that plan to get between 7pm and 11pm. It's an estimate, not a guaranteed minimum.

The speed you actually get also depends on your nbn technology, the length and condition of the line to your premises, your router, your Wi-Fi and in-home wiring, how many devices are in use, and the servers you're connecting to.

If your line can't reach your plan's speed

On FTTN and FTTB, and sometimes FTTC, the copper line limits how fast your connection can go. The line's maximum attainable speed is the most you'll get. Within 20 working days of your service going live, we check what your line can reach. If it can't reach the plan you chose, we'll tell you its maximum attainable speed within 5 working days of finding out, and you can choose to:

  • move to a cheaper plan your line can reach, at no cost, and we credit the difference in price all the way back to your go-live date (this applies instead of the usual plan-change rule in section 8); or
  • leave, at no cost to you.

We don't charge for the service until we've confirmed your line can reach your plan's speed or, if it can't, until 10 working days after we've told you and you haven't asked for either option. If there's no plan your line can reach, you can leave on the same terms. None of this limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

Because you use your own router, we may not be able to test your service from end to end after it's connected. Please tell us about any problem you notice, so we can fix it. If you ask, we'll give you the settings your router needs.

Things in your home can slow your connection. To get the best from it: plug your main devices into the router with an Ethernet cable where you can; put the router somewhere central and in the open; keep its firmware up to date and use its 5 GHz Wi-Fi where your devices support it; and on FTTN and FTTB, plug the modem into the main phone socket and unplug anything else connected to your phone sockets, such as filters or old phones.

7. Billing and payment

Monthly, in arrears

  • We bill monthly in arrears, by calendar month (Sydney time). After each month ends, we email you an invoice for the service you had in that month.
  • Your first invoice is for a part month: from the day your service goes live to the end of that month. Waiting to be connected costs nothing.
  • Your last invoice is also for a part month: from the start of that month to your cancellation date.
  • A part month is charged by the day: the monthly price, divided by the number of days in that month, for each day you had the service.
  • Each invoice shows the dates it covers, each charge, and the GST. Any one-off nbn charge you agreed to (section 3) appears on the invoice after nbn charges us for it.

How and when you pay

  • Each invoice is due within 14 days of its date.
  • Pay by bank transfer (EFT) or PayID, using the account details and reference printed on the invoice. Neither costs you anything extra.
  • We don't take card payments, and we never take money from your account without you sending it. We don't accept BPAY, cash or cheques.
  • No late payment fees, and no interest.
  • If you pay part of an invoice, we apply the payment to the oldest amount you owe first.
  • All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST.

Keeping track of what you spend

Your plan has a fixed monthly price and unlimited data, and there are no usage, call or excess charges, so how much you use never changes what you pay. If you'd like information about your usage, ask us: it's free.

If you think an invoice is wrong, tell us. We won't take any credit management action over an amount you're disputing while we look into it.

8. Changing your plan

You can move up or down a plan at any time, from the portal or by contacting us, as long as the new plan is available on your line. The change takes effect when nbn completes it, usually within a day or two. There's no fee for changing plan.

For the month the change happens in, you pay the old plan's price for the days before the change and the new plan's price from the day it takes effect, both by the day. That month's invoice shows both. After that, you're billed at the new plan's price.

Moving to a faster plan on some FTTP and HFC premises needs an nbn connection box or fibre upgrade. If a charge applies, we show it and ask you to agree before we place the change (section 3).

9. Moving house

A service is tied to its address, so moving house means a new order at your new address. That new service works like any first order: we check the address, and it's billed from the day it goes live. It comes with different IP addresses.

Your old service keeps running until you cancel it, and cancelling it works exactly as section 10 describes. So you can keep it going until the new one is live if you want to. If you're moving because of domestic, family or sexual violence, tell us: we'll make sure you don't pay for two services for the same days (section 18).

10. Cancelling your service

There's no minimum term. You can cancel at any time, from the portal or by contacting us on 02 4398 7081 or at hello@theitdept.au. There's no exit fee and no notice period.

  • Before your service goes live: you pay nothing for the service. The only exception is a one-off nbn charge you agreed to (section 3) for work nbn has already done.
  • After it goes live: billing stops on your cancellation date. Your last invoice covers the part month up to that date, and anything else still owing, such as an agreed one-off charge. We never charge you for days after you cancel.

If you switch to another provider, their connection ends your service with us. We treat that as you cancelling on the day the switch happens. When your service ends, your IP addresses come back to us.

11. Changes to prices and to these terms

Your service keeps the price it was ordered at unless we tell you otherwise. If we raise a price or change these terms in a way that could disadvantage you, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice by email. The change only applies from the start of a calendar month that begins after the notice period ends. It never reaches back into a period you've already had.

If you don't like the change, you can cancel before it applies, with no exit fee.

If a change is good for you or makes no practical difference (such as a price cut, or a clearer explanation), or the law requires it on a shorter timeframe, it can take effect sooner. We'll still tell you about it. The current version of these terms is always at https://the-it-dept.underlay.au/portal/legal/terms.

12. If an invoice isn't paid

We don't charge late fees, and we'd much rather sort out a problem with you than cut you off. Nothing happens automatically. If an invoice is overdue:

  1. We contact you to remind you, and to ask whether you need help.
  2. If it's still unpaid 30 days after the reminder and you haven't been in touch, we may suspend your service. A person makes that decision, and we give you at least 5 working days' written notice first, saying how much is owed and how to get help.
  3. If it's still unpaid a further 30 days after suspension, we may cancel the service.

We never suspend or cancel for non-payment while you're in a payment arrangement with us, while you've asked for financial hardship help, while you have an open complaint about the amount, or where domestic, family or sexual violence is a factor.

We never sell debts, and we never list defaults with credit reporting bodies. Not paying, or often paying late, may still affect whether we can keep supplying your service, or supply you a service in future.

If you're finding it hard to pay, please tell us early. Our Financial Hardship Policy sets out the help available, including more time to pay and payment plans.

13. When we can suspend or cancel your service

We may suspend or cancel your service if:

  • it's being used for something unlawful;
  • it's used in a way section 14 doesn't allow;
  • it's a security risk: for example, a compromised device on your network is attacking others or harming the network;
  • an amount stays unpaid, following the steps in section 12;
  • you gave us false details to get the service; or
  • the law, a court or a regulator requires it.

Before we act, we'll tell you what the problem is and give you a reasonable chance to fix it. The only exception is when something is actively causing harm, like an attack coming from your connection, or when the law requires us to act straight away. Then we may suspend first and contact you as soon as we can. We lift a suspension as soon as the problem is fixed.

If we ever stop offering the service in your area, or stop offering it altogether, we'll give you at least 30 days' notice.

If we cancel your service, you pay only for the days you had it: there's no exit fee.

14. Using the service fairly

You're responsible for how your service is used, including by people in your household and your guests. Don't use it to:

  • break the law, including fraud, scams, harassment, threats, or dealing in stolen data;
  • send spam in breach of the Spam Act 2003, or run an open mail relay or open proxy;
  • attack other systems: denial-of-service attacks, scanning or breaking into systems you don't have permission to test, spreading malware, or phishing;
  • send traffic with a forged source address, or forge email or packet headers;
  • access, store or share material that's illegal in Australia, including child sexual abuse material, which we report to police;
  • infringe copyright;
  • interfere with other customers' services, the network, or nbn's; or
  • resell the service or share it outside your household (guests on your Wi-Fi are fine).

Your public IPv4 address and IPv6 range are there to be used: servers, self-hosting, a VPN back home or a home lab are all fine, as long as you keep them patched and secure. Heavy use isn't abuse, and we won't slow you down for it. What we act on is traffic that harms the network or other people. If your service is the target of an attack big enough to affect others, we may filter traffic to your address for a while to protect the network; we'll tell you, and lift it once the attack stops.

We don't monitor what you do online. If a rights holder sends us a notice about your service, we may pass it on to you. We don't give your details to rights holders unless the law compels us to.

15. Faults, support and maintenance

Report faults to us, not to nbn: on 02 4398 7081 or at hello@theitdept.au. You can also run line tests yourself in the portal.

We'll run tests on your line and the network, and work out with you where the problem is. If it's in nbn's network, we raise it with nbn through our wholesale access provider, chase it, and keep you updated until it's fixed. Faults in nbn's network are fixed within nbn's fault timeframes, and some need a technician visit.

The network sometimes needs planned maintenance, and nbn does maintenance on theirs. Planned work on our side is done overnight wherever possible, and we email you ahead of any planned work we expect to interrupt your service.

If there's a major or significant local outage of nbn's network, we keep you informed as section 12 of our Complaints Handling Policy describes, including how often we send updates. nbn lists current major and significant local outages on its outage register.

Setting up and fixing your own router, Wi-Fi and devices is your responsibility, but we're happy to help you get connected.

16. Your responsibilities

You agree to:

  • Supply and look after your own equipment. Your router and devices need to be compatible with the service and not harm the network.
  • Keep your network secure. Your public IPv4 address and IPv6 range are reachable from the internet. Keep your router's firmware up to date, change default passwords, secure your Wi-Fi, and run a firewall.
  • Use the service lawfully and in line with section 14.
  • Keep your details current, especially your email address and mobile number. That's how we reach you, and where your invoices go.
  • Keep your portal login secure, and tell us promptly if you think someone else has used your account.
  • Leave nbn's equipment alone. The nbn connection box and other nbn equipment at your premises belong to nbn. Keep it powered, don't tamper with it, and give nbn reasonable access to install or repair it.

17. Privacy and data retention

We handle your personal information as our Privacy Policy describes, under the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. We never sell it and we don't share it with advertisers.

As a carriage service provider, Part 5-1A of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 requires us to keep certain information about your service (such as the IP addresses allocated to you and when your connection was active) for 2 years. We don't keep the content of your communications or your browsing history. We give information to law enforcement and security agencies only where the law requires or authorises it.

18. If you need extra help

If you're going through a hard time with money, our Financial Hardship Policy explains what we can do. It's made under the Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard 2024.

If you're affected by domestic, family or sexual violence, tell us in whatever words suit you. You don't have to prove anything to get help. We will:

  • never ask you to contact the person using violence, or get their consent to anything;
  • contact you only in the ways and at the times you tell us are safe;
  • protect your details: we never knowingly give your address, contact details or account information to a person using violence against you;
  • change your email address, mobile number and portal password straight away, after checking it's you in a way that's safe for you;
  • change your IPv4 address and IPv6 range free on request;
  • help you get a service in your own name, and make sure you don't pay for two services for the same days while you move across;
  • not suspend or cancel your service for non-payment while we work through your situation with you; and
  • treat any complaint where violence is a factor as urgent.

Our domestic, family and sexual violence support page sets out all the help we offer and how to reach us safely. If you are in immediate danger, call 000 from a mobile or another phone (this service can't make calls). For confidential support any time, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au.

19. Consumer guarantees and our responsibility

Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. These include that we supply the service with due care and skill, that it's fit for any purpose you tell us you need it for, and that it's supplied within a reasonable time.

For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us, and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If a failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or changes those guarantees, or any other right you have under a law that can't be excluded. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for our fraud or wilful misconduct.

We're not responsible for loss to the extent it's caused by something you or your household did, by your own equipment or wiring, or by a breach of these terms by you.

The service is residential grade. If an outage would cost you money or put someone at risk, please have a backup, such as a mobile service.

20. Events beyond our control

Sometimes things outside our reasonable control stop us from supplying the service: for example, natural disasters, severe weather, widespread power outages, damage to infrastructure by third parties, or failures in nbn's network. If that happens, we won't be in breach of these terms for the time we can't supply the service, but we'll keep you informed and do what we reasonably can to restore it. This doesn't affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law (section 19), and you can always cancel (section 10).

21. Complaints

If something's gone wrong, tell us and we'll fix it. Complain on 02 4398 7081 or at hello@theitdept.au. It's free. We acknowledge complaints within 2 working days and propose a resolution within 10 working days, or resolve them within 2 working days if they're urgent. If we ever need longer, we tell you why before the time runs out. Our Complaints Handling Policy has the full detail.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, you have a right to take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which is a free and independent service. Contact the TIO: phone 1800 062 058, visit tio.com.au, or write to PO Box 276, Collins Street West VIC 8007. The IT Dept Pty Ltd is a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme.

22. Notices

We send notices, invoices and anything else these terms require us to put in writing to the email address on your account. For time-sensitive things like appointment reminders, we may also text your mobile. An email we send counts as written notice.

You can give us notice at hello@theitdept.au, by calling 02 4398 7081, or in writing to NSW, Australia.

23. Transferring this agreement

You can't transfer your service to someone else without our agreement. We may transfer this agreement to another company as part of a sale or restructure of our business, as long as your rights under it aren't reduced. We'll tell you beforehand, and you can cancel as usual if you'd rather not continue.

24. General

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a right straight away, we haven't given it up.

25. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales. The courts of New South Wales and the Commonwealth of Australia can hear disputes about them. This doesn't stop you going to the TIO, or using any consumer protection law or tribunal available where you live.

26. What some words mean

  • CIS: the Critical Information Summary for a plan.
  • Calendar month: a month from its first day to its last, in Sydney time.
  • Cancellation date: the day your service ends: the day you cancel, or a later day if you ask for one.
  • Go-live date: the day your service is connected and working.
  • Household: the people who live at your service address.
  • In arrears: billed after the period it covers, for the service you've had.
  • nbn: the National Broadband Network and NBN Co Limited, which operates it.
  • NTD or connection box: the nbn device at your premises that your router plugs into.
  • Portal: your online account at https://the-it-dept.underlay.au/portal.
  • Service: the broadband service we supply to you under these terms.
  • Working day: any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday in New South Wales.

About us

The IT Dept Pty Ltd (ABN 12 665 405 505). The IT Dept Pty Ltd supplies your service, is the party to your contract and bills you. The IT Dept Pty Ltd is a member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman scheme.

Contact us at hello@theitdept.au or on 02 4398 7081 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays). Our address for notices is NSW, Australia.